A great heel of the French striker finished off by Casemiro brings Real Madrid to the League title (0-1).

If it is worthwhile to continue admiring this strange football born in times of pandemic, it is for players like Karim Benzema . There is no gesture of his that does not overflow the emotion typical of those who face art. Intelligence and plasticity. Characteristics that are intertwined in a footballer often misunderstood, judged for years by the randomness of the goal. Something that always brought him careless, as long as he could continue to vindicate his work in silence. [Narration and statistics (0-1)]

For the history of the League, just as it happened a decade ago with Guti in Riazor, Benzema’s heeled caress in Cornellà will remain. And also the incredulous gesture of Bernardo , who would never have imagined that the Frenchman would find any way out of the confinement to which he intended to subject him in the area. The ball passed between legs turned into stakes. A genius used by Casemiro to bring Real Madrid to the title and further depress Barcelona.

It could not be Espanyol, dying already ten points from the utopian salvation, the team that helped his citizen rival. The Blue and Whites’ club had enough to wonder about the fatal consequences of its cursing, an ideal natural habitat for that deficient institutional and sports management that will drag the club to Segunda 27 years later. Toy entrepreneur Chen Yansheng has been helped by classroom advisers who are unable to warn him about the futility of heading off the bench early in the morning.

ZIDANE AND THE GALA OUTFIT

Abelardo was the last to fall. The same laws do not work in soccer as in assembly lines. Until arriving at the grotesque scenario with which the Blue and Whites’ team will conclude the season, with its top sports manager, Plenipotentiary Rufete , the same person in charge of choosing coaches and players, who became Captain Ahab . Gray beard, cap, shorts and nutty socks. As if he were on the whaler Pequod.

Little could Espanyol oppose a Real Madrid that has more than enough records to save days. He has won all five games after the resumption of the championship, with Zinedine Zidane exploiting the possibilities of his squad with constant changes of scheme and pieces. Without the end result being altered. The white coach understood, yes, that the appointment in Cornellà was capital after the last nonsense in Balaídos of a Barcelona that Atlético receives this Tuesday. So Zidane recovered the suit from the great occasions. That is, with four midfielders and under the government between the lines of the recovered Isco . The man from Malaga was not a starter since the classic on March 1.

The plan involved the replacement of Vinicius , who had been stimulating Real Madrid in recent games and recruited to shake in the second act. Also the permanence of Hazard in the eleven, despite the fact that the Belgian was again that footballer. Without confidence or daring.

In any case, Rufete’s Espanyol had little to oppose, beyond Raúl de Tomás’ quality glimpses or Wu Lei’s dawn races behind Marcelo , never resolved where he should. The Chinese striker’s tribute to Cardeñosa at Villamarín was no accident.

CASEMIRO’S DOMAIN

Casemiro, on his return after serving a penalty game, dominated as he pleased in the steppe. The Brazilian felt so liberated that he even remembered Pelé in Mexico 70 with that goal that was not. Casemiro looked up from his own field and was about to sink Diego López , who managed to stretch his fingers in time.

It mattered little. So comfortable was Real Madrid that he never seemed to flinch at failed opportunities. Before Benzema opened the sky with his heel, Diego López had already knocked him down in the area in a bizarre move and to which Mateu Lahoz said nothing .

Espanyol, sure of his destiny, let himself be carried away without denying his present. “The waves of tragedy are everywhere,” Bukowski recited . Neither did he need to do much more a Real Madrid clouded the rest of the night with Benzema.